The taking of our leaders is so painful and such a reality for us that we often feel torn even to discuss the nature of the facts surrounding some of the circumstances if only just to learn.

But since supporting Senator Obama back in August of last year, I have seen this issue silently carve a wide slope within our community so that a corner of fear, albeit unspoken, shadows our delight and hope and dreams as they play out each day. This can articulate in a meekness or timidity askew of our legendary strength and inner pride and render actions immobile...especially when what we need most is action.

Please understand that I am not writing this from fear but to alert you to the need of a much higher level of observation and concentration. Nor am I trying to jump on or manipulate a hot topic. It’s just that with every debate and discussion regarding Senator Obama’s rise, this subject lingers, like a family secret of abuse that is never to be spoken of but everyone wants to say something….Well we need to excise this immediately and take up an offense model that breeds deep security from within our ranks.

Black people,

Assassination and the attempt is very real and has been used in this nation with surprising regularity. But it is not probable and it is my intent to offer an honest discussion to make sure that we not only revel in Senator Obama’s victories but also endeavor to be a larger wave of support. Eyes, ears, hands and prayers.

Yes I said prayers. I know a lot of you think I’m some kind of agnostic. While that may be true, I do not dispute the “recharging” effect we can generate through our beautiful connections to our spirituality. It seems as though God has given us an unrivaled talent for speaking to him.

Which is why I’m puzzled when the deepest of Christians I know stop me when this topic comes up…”Stop all that hating!”…or “Shhhh, f#ck all that…” This sentiment is fear of conjuring. Something Christianity rebukes. If it were true Imma go ahead and speak on some of these bills right here and see what happens…

When boxer Jack Johnson beat James Jefferies, badly, on July 4th, 1910, riots ensued and 13 Blacks were killed.

Blacks also suffered when Joe Louis won.

That sport, in those times, demonstrated the order of man vs man and was an ultimate barometer (at least for White men) for supremacy. But since this nation was partly built on White Supremacy EVERYTHING is an ultimate barometer.

These days the toughest boxing belt holder is White and no one bats an eye one way or another. In that sport we seemed to have moved beyond the fake measurement of race. However this is the Presidency. A seat where true supremacy is wielded. This nation was set up by rich White Men for Rich White Men and only when threatened with harm did those men (which decreased after a lil’ peak called the Civil War) make incremental changes.

Martin, Medgar, Malcolm and countless other have been taken from us. Still others were removed socially or economically. Destroyed for having the will to be…human. Or trying to be the best. Some by our folk, Malcolm, some by others. But we rarely ever look past the ultimate goal which could give us clues as to what to look for and how to support them best.

It ain’t about us. It’s about the fruition of a ruling class cult.

Men who are taught to run this nation, and the world, are fostered by a realm of their making and control. They know all of the codes and have all of the signs. They have controlled industry, access and army without so much as a wobble of change amongst them.

Case and point: George W. Bush’s lineage goes back almost 200 years with four Generations of Yale men. From that lil’ group have been two Senators, Two governors, Vice –President, CIA chief and two Presidents.

Make no mistake, these last 8 years ain’t been no fluke and he initiated a war that has seen at least 600,000 Iraqi dead….without batting a eye.

It is a rarity when us lil’ folk win according to the rules. In fact many of the Constitutional rules were laid out to give the appearance of independence through popular vote which most of the population did not have however, should they get it, THAT could easily be twisted by the electoral college.

Professional politicians, save those named in the Constitution itself, hadn’t come to full bloom yet, thus the college was made up of a group of delegates who were rich enough to have the spare time to run the States. So the rulers of this nation are based in the belief that they and they alone should make the decisions. This hasn’t changed in thousands of years. That there is a group who consider themselves the “Rulers”. Our system just adds a few more kettles on the fire.

Now here comes Barack Obama.

I believe that he is going to be the first Black President which more importantly gives him “down to earth” roots and puts him more in line with a “populist” quirk in American history. He’s a liberal and although he’s being compared to JFK (or at least the foment of his hope message), he is more like Huey Long in his appeal to the average voter. Not the complexity, just the connection to the vox populi.

Despite Clinton’s $100 million claim, HE is truly the popular candidate. Yes he has his “big” donors but it has been the great wealth of the internet “two’s and fews” drive that has catapulted his campaign to near financial independent status.

This is what makes Senator Obama dangerous to the powers that be.

There ain’t too many hooks. He doesn’t seem to have a price down any corridor.

This means that his promise of change is really a threat to a system that keeps the rest of us in the dark while billions are thrown back and forth between the ruling class.

It won’t be the lone West Virginian nut case in a neo-white Klan robe…no no, the secret service can handle that. No it would be a carefully monitored and performed plan laid out by top minds who refute the will of the majority of us. The ones who dispute a need for universal health care or helping the foreclosure crisis. The ones who are, right now, lying about the tremendously important effect the original GI bill had on the nation. The ones against Medicaid and social security.

Think I’m paranoid? Okay speaking of Social Secuirty…

The Business Plot

Immediately after FDR announced and began to initiate the new deal a group of Bankers and filthy rich White men conspired to overthrow the Government. Known as the Business Plot, it centered on a retired Marine, Smedley Butler, who was immensely popular with WW I vets, who themselves, were very much a part of the plan.

WWI vets had no financial security for their service, so they protested by marching on and peaceably occupying Washington D.C. while appealing to then President Hoover. Until they were fired upon by Douglas MacArthur. It was so bad that the Government gave them each $1000 bond which matured in 20 years!

Smedley Butler

The plotters saw FDR’s move to take the US off of the gold standard as a good way to convince these war vets how little the bonds would ever be worth and, under this “outrage”, they would re-occupy Washington but this time with weapons. Butler, then was to offer FDR an ultimatum to step aside and become a figure head while he was appointed “General Council”, essentially…dictator.

This was all to be financed by a group called the American Liberty League which had researched the plot by observations of Hitler, Mussolini and fascist French.

They had the wrong man though. Unlike the wilting honor of General Colin Powell, Butler doubled back and turned the plot in and then testified before the McCormack-Dickstein Congressional Committee. This committee found his accusations to be valid and the plot to be real.

Why haven’t you heard of this? Why weren’t you taught this in school? Why isn’t Butler celebrated along with JFK and the plot unfurled in Blogs across American every May Day?

All upstanding and Powerful pillars of America and the “freedom” it promises. Yet, when they felt that their rich interests were threatened they plotted a coup.

Just Say No

Thursday June 6, 2008 Senator Barack Obama pledged that the Democratic Party will no longer take contributions from lobbyists. It’s a small step but one which excited huge crowds. He’s giving the impression that he’s doing away with the money train that gives corporations access that you and I would never have.

Couple that with HOW he raised much of his cash and…well you can do the math…WHO DOES THAT LEAVE OUT?

Under Cheney and Bush the Oil companies have made more money than any entities in the history of the world. ALL Egyptian Dynasties…Chinese Dynasties….ALL Roman Empires…The Catholic Church…The English Empire…

And yet this young Senator is acting as if this wealth cannot buy access. That kind of money is no good without power.

Now throw in Hillary Clinton’s spotty race baiting and Fox News’ continuation of it and a there’s a powder keg being brewed.

What to do?

So we must be vigilant in understanding the entire picture. That he is a marked man because of his hope and the effect it may have on the multitudes. While enjoying his success, we must watch for the glimmer in an eye or the purposeful glare. We cannot relax because we simply are vexed by his message, but must be an attentive audience. One which truly understands the nature of his promise. And what the realization of that promise means to the “class of entitlement”.

This is not just about Black and White. Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell are Black and they never threatened anyone (unless you wanna point out the innocent dead Iraqis and killed troops or the former President of Haiti). This is about doing more than standing and cheering but being highly sensitive of our surroundings.

Trust…I am not trying to be a harbinger of doom and despair nor am I hating…but dig this:

Journalist John Pilger, who covered Robert Kennedy’s campaign and was with him when Kennedy spoke at the Ambassador Hotel in L.A., tells a story. Right before the crowd entered the Ambassador’s kitchen, a waiter came to him and said that there was strange guy in the kitchen. They both sloughed it off. That man was Sirhan Sirhan and two minutes later he shot RFK.

Truthful Hope

Things will be both tense and glorious. He has already made history and, as long as McCain keeps talking, Senator Obama is poised to continue make more history. We must help him. Not by shying away from the reality of this America we live in, but by facing it. Controlling it. And protecting its future by being real about its past and the violence it has turned to so many times.

We can easily overcome these thoughts by devoting space in our hearts to clearing the air of superstition, demonstrating reason and forever removing the shadows of fear from our hope.